Snow days, now this is something that most children of all ages love, some adults maybe not as much, especially if you have to go to work in it. I remember when my dad was working, a snow day was something he dreaded being a mailman he had to go to work no matter what the weather. What does that song say the mail must go through, doesn’t matter if it rains or snows, the mail must go through? Ooops got a little off track where it was Oh yes a snow day and dialysis.
Now I don’t know where you live but here in the Blue Ridge Mountains in VA there is some snow in the winter time, usually not a lot a few inches at the most and if there is not much snow dialysis treatment would go on as normal. But when there was a big snow storm or adverse weather forecasted. The first thing my care team would do once would be to hand out a packet called emergency preparedness. This would have things such as information such as your med list, what to do in case you were not able to make it to dialysis, who to call, what to have on hand in case you lose electricity, how to make water safe for drinking and so forth.
Once the packets were given out and the weather got closer and a more solid forecast, then they would make adjustments as needed. I remember one time I was at work and there was snow in the forecast. I got a call from the dialysis clinic on a day that I was off of dialysis. It was Aunt B: Hello Anthony, I wanted to see if you would be able to come in today at such and such time to get your treatment in? We will be closing tomorrow because of the snow, and we would like to get your treatment today. Me: Um, let me check with my boss and make sure that I can get off to do this. I just walked into work.
Needless to say, once I talked to my boss, I headed straight to my treatment. Once there, I was able to get a two-hour treatment because they were trying to get everyone treatment. A two-hour treatment is better than none at all. Once treatment was done, I went straight back to work to finish my shift.
While this is one experience, there were a few more along the way. Sometimes on treatment day I would get a call to ask if I could come in immediately to receive my treatment. To which I would make every effort possible to make treatment, for it was what kept me living. There were no snow days for me, while it would have been easy to call in or tell the staff I was at work, there was no way that I wanted to miss treatment.
It came down to what was more valuable to me, my life or other things. In retrospect, the other things were small, especially When you compare them to life.
This was just another part of the journey, and tune in next time as I share with you another part of my Journey on the Kidney Trails. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Kidney Trails blog, so you don’t miss any new and exciting content. Until next time keep traveling on to the next peak, and you may be surprised at the view that is waiting for you.
Kidney Trails 